Marc Berger brings his songs of the American West to Warwick Library Sept. 11

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Singer-songwriter Marc Berger has been making music since the early 1980s, but it wasn’t until he experienced the beauty and allure of the American West that he found a theme to write his first album, “RIDE.”

Berger will be performing songs from that album at the Warwick Public Library on Sunday, Sept. 11.

“I could always play guitar a bit, but I started writing songs when I was in law school,” Berger said during a phone interview. “The first few songs I wrote were bad, but by the time I graduated I had written what I thought were some pretty good songs.”

Not wanting to look back years down the road and wonder what if, Berger reached out to see about getting his songs published “just to get it out of my system.”

“I figured they would tell me the songs aren’t worth publishing and I should continue being a lawyer, but I was able to sign some publication deals right away,” he said.

Berger said it wasn’t until a chance encounter with Richie Havens, who did a song of his that garnered a lot of attention in the early to mid-1980s, that he started taking himself seriously as a songwriter.

Berger, who is based out of New York and tours extensively these days, describes “RIDE” as “a collection of songs all having to do with the romance of the American West.”

When asked why he decided to write about the West, Berger said he has an intimate connection to it.

“On a lark, when I was 21, I went on a cross-country road trip, a summer adventure out west, and it blew my mind,” he said. “I came back changed and I wanted to get back out there, so throughout my 20s, I would always drive out west by myself to explore different areas of it.”

Living in New York City, Berger said he was always interested in far away places and the “spectacular West.”

“There’s a certain allure to the West,” he said. “It’s timelessly attractive all over the world.”

In addition to enjoying and exploring the West, Berger said he’s influenced by a variety of things, and it’s not limited to just music, ranging from writers and authors to classical composers and filmmakers.

One of the books that had a big influence on Berger and “RIDE” was “The Big Sky” by A.B. Guthrie.

“Guthrie wrote about the West before the settlers, when the first white people went out there and lived a rugged existence with the [Native Americans],” he said. “So I decided to make an album that was a reflection of the West, with themes such as endless horizons and tomorrow is better than yesterday.”

Berger said the album has been well received.

“It’s gotten national airplay and terrific reviews, and Starbucks has licensed it for worldwide in-store airplay,” he said. “What was pleasing about this album is that every song has been similarly well received. One radio station will play ‘Long Way From Vixenberg,’ another will play ‘Twister,’ and there was a station in Florida that played “A Bottle of Wine, A Suitcase, An Umbrella” every day for six months.”

Berger said the album is meant to be an experience, and takes listeners on a journey.

Berger is already hard at work on his next album, which he said will be extremely different from “RIDE.”

“I liked the idea of an album with a linking idea, a coherent wholeness, which I found challenging and liked it,” Berger said. “The second album will focus on what is folk music and it will be a genre-bending idea of what it is.”

For the second album, Berger said he’s working with Tony Garnier, Bob Dylan’s bandleader and bassist, and drummer Dan Rieser, who’s worked with Norah Jones and Roseanne Cash.

“We’ve recorded half of the basic tracks for it and I’m extremely excited about it,” he said. “The reference point is Walt Whitman and his book ‘Leaves of Grass,’ about what it means to be an American artist.”

Berger said copies of “RIDE” will be available at his performance at the Warwick Library. Berger plays acoustic and electric guitar and harmonica, but he will be backed by a full band for the performance, including bass, fiddle, mandolin, and effects.

As for what audiences can expect, he said: “The live performance will take the audience through a wide range of emotions, rhythms, and grooves from the roots of American music. There will be some rocking tunes and some ballads. It’s an earthy sounding band.”

An American Roots Concert: Marc Berger Plays RIDE with the RIDE Band will be held from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 11 in the Glass Room at the Warwick Public Library, located at 600 Sandy Lane, Warwick. The concert is free and open to all.

To hear tracks from “RIDE,” visit marcbergermusic.com and click the “Listen” button at the top of the page.

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